Table of Contents
Introduction xiii
Chapter 1 Prison Made of Plastic 1
Get Everyone on Board 3
Reduce Your Interest Rates 5
A Plan for Debt Repayment 7
Get a Rope 8
Snowflaking 10
Five Steps for Today 12
Chapter 2 What’s Missing?
What Do We Really Need? 17
Five Steps Toward Happiness 19
Chapter 3 A Visit from the Black Swan 23
Our Lives Are More Random Than We Think 24
Unprepared for the Good 26
Unprepared for the Bad 27
Sources of Personal Risk 29
Maximizing Luck 32
The Need for Reliability 33
Preparing Yourself 34
Chapter 4 The Power of Goals in a Random World 37
The Changing Value of Long-Term Goals 39
The Power of Self-Reliance 42
The Key: Short-Term Goals 44
Five Steps Toward Your Dreams 46
Chapter 5 Running to Stand Still 49
The Changing Nature of Income 50
Your True Hourly Wage 52
The Things We Sacrifice 53
Your Future Self Isn’t Reliable 54
The Power of Today 55
Five Steps for Breaking Out 56
Chapter 6 With or Without You 59
The Broadening of Community 61
The “Tragedy of the Commons” 63
The Value of a Relationship 65
Social Intelligence 67
Getting Started 70
Chapter 7 Minding the Gap 73
Spending Less Than You Earn 74
Mind the Gap 75
Wants and Needs 76
The Frugalist and the Capitalist 78
Budgeting 79
Five Steps Toward Minding the Gap 80
Chapter 8 Frugality as Framework 83
The Difference Between Frugal and Cheap 84
Frugality as a Framework for Freedom 85
What’s Essential? 87
The Peak-End Rule and Life Experiences 90
Overvaluing Routine Experiences 91
Frugality and Food 94
Trimming Your Utility Bills 101
Housing and Transportation 102
Get Clever with Your Entertainment 105
The Five Fundamental Rules of Frugality 107
Chapter 9 Cultivating People and Opportunities 111
Negative Relationships 112
Positive Relationships 115
From a Negative to a Positive: Cultivating Opportunities 117
Five Ways to Maximize Your Positive
Relationships 119
Chapter 10 The New Career Rules 123
Where Is Your Loyalty? 124
A Community of Peers 125
The Power Shift 127
Learning, Growing, and Synthesizing 128
Passion 129
Deliberate Practice 130
Transferable Skills 131
Finding (and Being) a Mentor 134
Five Steps on a Journey of a Thousand Miles 135
Chapter 11 Life Design–Building Something New 139
Building a Solid Foundation 141
The Rules of Your Life 144
Rules Are Made to Be Broken 146
Shoot the Moon 147
Five Steps to Designing a New Life 151
Chapter 12 Managing the Gap 155
Avoiding Lifestyle Inflation 156
The Crossover Point 159
Protecting What You Have 162
Five Methods for Maintaining the Gap 164
Chapter 13 The Personal-Financial Boundary 167
Communication 169
Honesty 172
Time 174
Friends, Family, and Lending Money 175
Five Steps to Getting Your Relationships on Track 177
Chapter 14 Recasting Retirement 179
Retirement Rarely Equates to Idleness 180
What’s Your Next Act? 181
Recasting Retirement Savings 182
Retirement Savings Versus College Savings 184
Revisiting the Crossover Point 186
Five New Steps Toward “Retirement” 187
Chapter 15 The New Path to Adulthood 189
Setting Your Child Apart–Money Lessons 190
Setting Your Child Apart–A Growth Mindset 192
Setting Your Child Apart–Self-Reliance 195
Setting Your Child Apart–Self-Learning 197
Setting Your Child Apart–Unique Experiences 198
Setting Your Child Apart–Educational Priorities 200
Five Little Steps 201
Chapter 16 The Power of Giving 203
Giving Is Part of Participating in a Community 206
Doing It Different 207
Five Ways to Get Started 211
Chapter 17 Holding You Back 213
What We Say Versus What We Do 214
Passive Barriers 215
Clutter 218
Focus 220
Choosing to Be Happy 221
Five Ways to Overcome Your Barriers 222
Chapter 18 Original of the Species 225
Experiences Trump Things 226
Insanity: Doing the Same Thing and Expecting
Different Results 227
Success Is About Differentiation 228
Stop Caring What Other People Think 229
“Live Like No One Else So You Can Live Like No One Else” 231
Five Steps for Going Your Own Way 232
Chapter 19 11 O’Clock Tick Tock 235
The Single Most Important Part of Personal Finance Is Truly Knowing Yourself 236
The Second Most Important Part of Personal Finance Is Setting Clear, Concrete Goals 236
The World Is More Random Than You Think It Is 237
The Most Valuable Resource in the World Isn’t Money, It’s Time 237
The More Supportive People You Have in Your Life, the Better Off You Are 238
The Fewer Unsupportive People You Have in Your Life, the Better Off You Are 239
Blaming Others for Your Problems Is a Dead-End Road 239
The More Time You Spend Improving and Educating Yourself, the Better Your Personal and Financial Life Will Be 240
Karma Always Comes Around 241
There Are Very Few Aspects of Your Life That Cannot Be Changed 241
Index 243
